Vatican City, Feb. 12, 2019 - Speculation is building that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick could be laicized as soon as tomorrow. And while many consider laicization to be a severe penalty for McCarrick, an anonymous source has asserted that it's a great honor for the laity.
"You have to see both sides of the coin," said GSM News' anonymous source, who works for the Vatican's Dicastery for the Laity and Family. "It's been centuries since a Cardinal--albeit a former one--has rejoined the ranks of the laity. So what an honor for them."
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| Image Source: Wikimedia Commons |
Credible allegations surfaced in June, 2018, that McCarrick, the powerful former archbishop of Washington, D.C., had sexually abused a 16-year-old minor in the 1970s. Two more allegations of the sexual abuse of minors also quickly surfaced, as well as claims that the archbishop regularly made sexual advances on seminarians while heading the Newark archdiocese from 1986-2000.
The Holy See swiftly removed McCarrick from public ministry and then from the College of Cardinals. The verdict of the canonical trial that could laicize him is expected ahead of a Vatican summit on sexual abuse scheduled to begin later this week.
The anonymous Vatican official from the Dicastery for Laity and the Family credited his belief that McCarrick's laicization would be a boon for the laity to Jesuit Father Antonio Spadero, a confidant of Pope Francis, who famously tweeted last year that theology is not mathematics, and that in theology two-plus-two sometimes equals five.
"It may look like an insult to the laity to give them McCarrick when we clergy don't want to be associated with him anymore," the official said. "But it's all a matter of perception. And the laity really need to perceive it as a great honor for them to be able to claim a Prince of the Church as one of their own."
Reacting to the Vatican official's comment was Joe Schmo, an average layman. "The Second Vatican Council sought to elevate the vocation of the lay faithful," he said. "But returning McCarrick to the lay state as a punishment demonstrates the very clericalism that Pope Francis has been decrying. I just don't understand it."
When asked about Schmo's statement, the Vatican official replied, "Really, the answer here is five, not four. So tell Schmo and all those other schmucks to pay, pray, and obey."
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* Because right now, humor is the only thing that makes sense. For a more serious personal reflection of mine on the fall of McCarrick, see my post from last year: Cardinal McCarrick and the Church's Continued Dark Night.
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